Description
This paper seeks to understand how India’s foreign policy discourse interprets and understands the escalating US-China strategic rivalry. In a world marked by uncertainty, India’s “risingness”—defined as a socio-political condition that makes the rising state's elite acutely aware of their enhanced ability to influence global norms and the international order—prompts it to take a more prominent role in world geopolitics. This shift is also reflected in its growing strategic alignment with the US, and opposition to China. However, this evolution has sparked concerns regarding India’s self-identity—the foundation of which has been an aversion to engagement in power politics. This research, therefore, frames this emerging dynamic as a power-morality tussle influenced by India’s postcolonial self. Subsequently, using a narrative approach, it seeks to understand narrative connections between the US-China rivalry and the themes of power politics and morality in India’s foreign policy discourse. To understand this dynamic, it analyses three data souces: 1) public-political, i.e., parliamentary speeches, statements by political leaders, key policymakers, reflecting the broader public and political mood; 2) academic-political, i.e., think tank and university publications, often ideologically aligned with political parties; 3) print media, i.e., India's influential English dailies covering broad discursive areas.
